


Smile

by st4rlabsforever (omaken)



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, With a mild dose of angst later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-27
Updated: 2016-03-29
Packaged: 2018-05-29 12:33:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6374935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/omaken/pseuds/st4rlabsforever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There are many uses of Barry's powers, but getting Cisco to smile is probably the best one, Barry thinks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It happened on a Tuesday.

“Come on, Cisco. Get with the program,” Jay had said, poking him in the side and teasing him along with the others for trying to name the meta of the week _Combustion Man_ (said meta could breathe fire out of his mouth). They’d ended up going with Cait’s much more sensible _Inferno_. So sue him, he was having a bad week.

That would have been the end of the conversation, except for the fact that Cisco had squealed and jump a good three feet away from Jay on contact.

“You okay?” Jay looked concerned.

But Barry’s head snapped immediately to attention. “Cisco…? You’re…ticklish?”

“Uh…no?”

Barry definitely didn’t believe him though, if his widening grin was any indication. He looked like he’d been told Christmas had come early this year. Okay, this was bad. When they were kids, Dante was always a few inches taller and used to tickle the crap out of him all the time. Not that Dante had done that in a long while, but if Cisco’s reaction just now was any indication, he was fairly certain he was still ticklish as hell.

He began slowly backing out of the Cortex and towards the corridor. “Seriously, Barry. I know what you’re thinking, man. And it’s _not_ a good idea.”

Barry was sauntering over towards him, looking far too invested in the outcome of this predicament for Cisco’s liking.

“Remember that time you coated the inside of the suit with glue? Or the time you programmed the suit to shock me every thirty minutes?”

Cisco spluttered. Well, shit. He _did_ do those things. “But those were just pranks. You _laughed_ at them.”

“Sure,” Barry said easily. Too easily.

“This is payback, though.” He was full-on smirking ear-to-ear now.

Cisco blinked, and suddenly his hair was blowing across his face and Barry was right in front of him.

“Wait! Wait!” he said with his hands in surrender. “It’s just, the main idea is-“

And he bolted.

He let out a sonic wave behind him. He was still getting the hang of all his powers, but he was pretty sure (he _hoped_ ) that Barry wouldn’t be able to get through it. He winced when he heard the shattering of multiple computer screens. That was okay, though. The computers were backed up and could be replaced. His dignity could not.

“MATTER OF DIGNITY COMING THROUGH!”

Caitlin let out an indignant squeak as Cisco shoved through the others and out the corridor. He tinkered with various displays and security panels as he passed, closing off hallways and blocking access, all the while woefully aware that none of it would do shit to hold off a guy who could phase through walls for long.

 _Think_. He knew this lab better than anyone. Surely, he could come up with an escape plan.

In a burst of inspiration, he sprinted down to the basement and towards the containment field. He was so close. Just a few more steps and he’d be home free.

Of course, that was when his surroundings exploded in a burst of color and a whirl of wind and he suddenly found himself facedown on the ground with fingers skittering over every inch of his body. He closed his eyes and bit down on his lip. Hard. Absolutely refusing to let out so much as a chirp.

“Seriously, dude?” Barry chuckled, sounding slightly disappointed that Cisco wasn’t full-out belly laughing at this point.

Cisco tried reaching behind him and grabbing Barry’s arms, but was met with empty air every time. He rolled his body into a ball to protect his sides and underarms, but there was the familiar rush of wind again and the peculiar feeling of having his limbs rearranged for him and he was defenseless again. With Barry’s gangly limbs all over the place, it was like being hugged by a giant octopus.

This was so, _so_ unfair. All Cisco got from the accelerator explosion were migraines, nightmares, and sonic waves. Barry’s super speed was extremely useful in a fight, offensively and defensively. It made getting through everyday chores very convenient. And apparently, now he was Tickle Master Supreme. Cisco had definitely gotten the short end of the stick.

When he looked up, Barry was rapidly scrolling through an article on his phone while his other hand continued to scrabble over Cisco’s torso.

Again, _so_ unfair.

“So, Yahoo Answers says that ‘the most ticklish points of the human body coincide with the major pressure points’,” he read out loud.

Cisco sincerely hoped Yahoo Answers was wrong.

It wasn’t.

“Come _on_ , Cisco. Live a little!” Barry wheedled, as if his thumb driving into the bottom of Cisco’s rib cage wasn’t the sole reason for Cisco facial muscles trying to force themselves upward in a grin right now.

“F-f-fuck you.” He didn’t manage to suppress the giggle that snuck out. If he was going down anyway, it wasn’t going to be without a fight.

Barry shrugged. “Suit yourself. But just to let you know, I can _probably_ hit every one of these points at the same time.” He tucked his phone away before making a show of cracking his knuckles.

Cisco braced himself.

And then the floodgates opened. It felt like at least a dozen pairs of hands were focused on his body – below his ribcage, behind his knees, on his collarbone, just above his freaking tailbone (which, he had no idea it was even possible to be ticklish there). He was absolutely going to kill Harry for ever teaching Barry that trick with the speed mirages.

He was laughing uncontrollably now, tears streaming out of his eyes and Barry, the bastard, was laughing right along with him. His body was like a live wire, Barry managing to hit all of the worst spots on his body at once, as promised.

It was when he phased a hand through Cisco’s fucking shoes to get at his feet that he lost it.

“Okay! Okay! You win!”

He sucked in deep, precious breaths of air while Barry finally let up, collapsing down next to Cisco.

He smacked Barry on the shoulder, but there was no heat in it, owing to the smile that was still plastered on his face.

“You’re the worst. You’re not supposed to use your superpowers for evil!”

“You still love me anyway.” Barry gave him a nudge.

“Fine, you got me,” he said with a grin.

When he stood up, he groaned.

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

Cisco pointed at the cameras. “Cait and Jay were definitely recording the whole thing for blackmail. How am I supposed to show my face around here after being beaten by a little tickling?”

“Don’t worry, I got your back, dude. Your secret’s safe with me.” He grinned before zipping back upstairs.

A second later, the sound of laughter filled the Cortex.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter is a bit of a think piece on all of the things that Barry's suffered through in the show so far. I think we forget sometimes because the show takes such a light-hearted approach to it

 “Hey, can we talk for a second?”

“Yeah, sure,” Barry said casually.

“Not here, though. Somewhere private.”

Barry raised an eyebrow but nevertheless followed Cisco into his workroom.

The past few days had been trying on all of them, but Cisco knew Barry had been hit the hardest. He’d trusted Jay and was betrayed. Again. And that had been right on the heels of Harry’s deal with Zoom coming to light, not to mention Eobard Thawne’s deception last year. He knew Barry blamed himself for all of it, even though Cisco and Cait had been the ones who had pushed to include Jay in their ragtag team.

There was a tiredness in Barry’s eyes that belied the cheerful smiles he gave Cisco as they worked to find a way back to Earth-2. First Eddie, and then Ronnie. Cisco knew what it was like to feel responsible for the death of a friend, and not just the overwhelming sense of guilt, but the spiraling pit of despair and helplessness that lasted for months after and had the tendency to creep back when you least expected it. Before they’d discovered that Ronnie was alive, Cisco had sometimes gone down to the containment hatch and just sat there pondering what it would have been like that night if everything hadn’t gone wrong. Of course, Cait had ripped him a new one when she’d found out that he blamed himself for Ronnie’s death, but that hadn’t stopped him from letting Hartley go in a last-ditch effort to save him.

He knew Barry thought Eddie and Ronnie and all of the other casualties from the singularity were his fault, and Cisco knew how that could really fuck with a guy. He might not have understood what it was like to have the world on his shoulders like the Flash did, but if he could help take some of the burden from Barry, then he would do so without hesitation.

“Come on, spill,” Cisco said once he was seated at his desk.

Barry let his long legs dangle as he sat on a stack of papers laden with all sorts of calculations. Cisco had always complained when Barry sat on his stuff, but Barry continued to do it anyway and it was his go-to position whenever the two of them shot the shit during the hours after a long crime fighting session.

“Uh...?” Barry hummed eloquently.

“Don’t play dumb, dude. I know you’ve got a lot on your mind these days, so let it out. This is a safe space.” He gestured grandly at the glass walls around them.

Barry sighed. “It’s fine, Cisco. Really, I just wanna focus on getting back to Earth-2 and taking down Zoom.”

“No, wait, just hear me out, okay?”

Barry sighed again, but nodded anyway.

“Look,” Cisco said. And then he was launching into a speech about knowing what it was like to hold himself responsible for everyone.

“I might not be the Flash, and I might not be able to do all of the amazing things that you do every single day,” Barry smiled at that, “but I do know what a bad place it puts you in when you bottle it all up. And I _know_ you’re not talking to anyone about this ‘cause Iris keeps telling me how concerned she is about you. Even when the particle accelerator blew and all those innocent people died, Cait was there for me even though we were both a mess.”

That was mostly an understatement. It had been more like Cisco pulling Caitlin off the floor and trying to comfort her about losing Ronnie while simultaneously feeling guilty for sealing him inside the accelerator. Caitlin had done the same for him and absolved him of any blame. But still, they had had each other, and it had helped them pick up the pieces and put S.T.A.R. Labs back together.

“So I guess what I’m saying is you don’t have to go through this alone,” he finished a little more lamely than he’d have hoped.

“Whew…” Barry deflated. “It’s just – how am I supposed to be able to trust anyone again after Jay?”

“Hey, just let me worry about that, okay?”

“And everyone who died because of the singularity,” Barry continued. “That’s on me, Cisco. You don’t know how much it terrifies me that next time it might be you or Caitlin or Joe or Iris that gets taken from me.”

“Okay, first, I built the time machine to send the Reverse Flash back to his time. And we were all one hundred percent behind you when you went to save your mom, so all of us deserve just as much blame.”

“And second – no, shut the fuck up for a second and let me finish, because I’m on a roll here. You don’t think all of us know by now what the risks are? Sorry, dude, but all of us have lost something and we’re still here, so stop acting all guilty like you’re holding a gun to our heads and forcing us to do this whole superhero thing with you.”

“But-“

“No but’s. When something comes up, we deal with it together, alright? Sometimes you save us, but sometimes we save your sorry ass too.”

That got a small chuckle out of Barry. Score.

“Oh, one more thing. I saw how close you were to taking that Velocity 9.”

The lengths that Barry would go to to protect this city quite frankly terrified Cisco. Sure, it was awe-inspiring to see that kind of dedication in him after witnessing his mother die again and being double-crossed twice in the span of a few weeks, but if Barry kept up this masochistic streak, Cisco was certain that it would only end in death.

Enough was enough.

“You ever think of doing something like that again and I’m telling Iris.”

Iris could be a force to be reckoned with when she got worked up.

“But I _need_ to get faster if we wanna defeat Zoom, Cisco, and we’re running out of time. What are we supposed to do?”

And he sounded desperate at the end of that statement, fingers threaded through his hair and eyes wild.

“We’ll figure it out. Together. You never win by taking shortcuts, Bar. You saw what happened to Eliza. You’re…”

What was he supposed to say? Good? Perfect? None of those words really encompassed exactly how special Barry was. Every time he got knocked down, he got right back up more determined than ever. He forgave Harry for stealing his speed, which was more than Cisco could have said for himself if he had been in Barry’s shoes. Barry had a heart of gold and a forgiving streak a mile wide that just made everyone around him want to believe in him.

“…you’re a hero” is what he settled on. “Call me cliché, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that you always beat the bad guys in the end. That’s the universe sending you a signal, dude.”

Barry swallowed.

“And besides, you _are_ getting faster even if you don’t realize it. Remember when you needed Oliver’s help to take down Eobard last year? But the second time around you were fast enough to stop him. When you take shortcuts like Eliza and…Jay,” he said the name hesitantly, “and Thawne, you lose your humanity. You stop being you.”

He put a steady hand over Barry’s heart during those last words.

Barry, for his part, looked like he hadn’t considered that angle before. “Huh, I guess you’re right about my speed. I _did_ feel like I was way faster than the Reverse Flash last time.”

“See?” He gave Barry a gentle punch on the shoulder.

Barry scratched the back of his neck. “I dunno why I’ve been in such a funk lately. Was it that obvious?”

Cisco shrugged. “Not really, but you do this thing with your eyebrows when you’re overthinking something. Anyway, I _want_ you to be able to talk to me when you’re feeling down, okay? Whenever, wherever.”

“Thanks, Cisco.” Barry gave him a bright smile. _Like bottled sunshine and rainbows_ , Cisco thought to himself.

“No problem, dude. One last thing, and I feel like you need this.”

“What’s that?”

_Ayeeeeeeee!_

Cisco let out a war cry and tackled Barry to the floor, promptly wriggling his fingers over every inch of skin within reach. It was a little clumsy, what with Barry’s gangly limbs flailing all over the place, but he had him breathless with laughter in seconds. They had all guessed that Barry was probably the most ticklish out of all of them, but the question was how to get him without incurring his revenge, because with his speed, he had rightfully crowned himself the ‘tickle master.’ Harry had scoffed and called them all children, but that had only prompted Barry’s curiosity and with it, Harry becoming the next victim (Cisco may or may not have egged him on, but Harry was also so glum that hearing him burst out in laughter was actually kind of adorable).

He only let up when Barry was well and truly red-faced, trying but failing to wipe the tears from his eyes due to the residual laughs still shaking his entire body.

“The worst,” Barry groaned, though his smile contradicted that statement.

“Oh please, you know you needed that. You could’ve gotten away anytime you wanted.”

Barry sat up. “Yeah, but _you_ can’t.”

He was suddenly a blur of motion and then all of the blinders on the glass walls were closed and the door was locked and Barry was standing between him and the only exit with a wicked grin on his face.

“You need this just as much as I did.”

Except, no. Because in Cisco’s experience, Barry’s speedster definition of tickling was almost certainly a violation of every possible interpretation of the Geneva Convention.

Also, he was a little more prepared this time. When Barry lunged forward, Cisco let his entire body vibrate, Barry’s fingers finding empty air as they slipped through Cisco’s torso. He looked adorably confused as he gave a few experimental prods.

“Can’t touch me when I’m vibrating at the frequency of air.”

He could practically see the gears turning in Barry’s head though, which happened alarmingly quickly these days due to that incredible super speed.

And then the smug grin was back on his face.

“You might not wanna brag about your plans before you’ve won, ‘cause that’s what supervillains do.”

That was about all the warning he got before he felt fingers skittering up his side. When he looked down, he saw Barry vibrating his hand too.

Right. If Barry vibrated at the frequency of air too, he’d be able to touch Cisco. Somehow, Cisco really did feel like the villain that had just been painted into a corner.

“Come on, you don’t have to do this,” he entreated even though he knew he was screwed.

“Turnabout’s fair play,” Barry pointed out.

He pounced, honing in on all of the spots he knew from the last time that would have Cisco laughing bloody murder. Cisco didn’t even manage to hold out for even a few seconds, immediately trying to surrender through fresh waves of laughter.

He knew he was being melodramatic, but he was positive Barry could add super speed ticking to his arsenal of moves right along side the lightning blasts and super sonic punch because it would be _very_ effective. Barry only laughed when Cisco told him so.

And after everything that had happened, the coming challenges would surely be trying on them. But as they laid on the floor of Cisco’s lab gasping with laughter, there was no denying that they felt lighter than they had in ages.


End file.
